Health Tip – Dec. 17 – Produce Each Day Keeps Blues Away

A novel study of the eating habits of 80,000 people in the U.K. by Dartmouth College and Britain’s University of Warwick has found that happiness and mental health are correlated with consuming seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The researchers looked at the number of fruits and vegetables the study subjects typically ate and compared it to each person’s life satisfactions, mental well-being, and self-report of health, happiness, nervousness and how often they feel low. The investigators also factored in other variables including what else the individuals ate, their alcohol consumption plus a number of social, economic and demographic factors.

They found that happiness and mental health rise in a “dose-response way” with the number of daily servings of fruit and vegetables and found that well-being appears to peak at seven. The upshot of this study is that by eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, we may be able to support and benefit our mental and emotional health and not just our physical health.